Today I want to review Minecraft, a game that I am sure everyone knows and loves at this point. I want to add my voice to the millions of reviews and discussions this game has. How did I start out playing Minecraft and do I still play as it updates?

I want to start out by saying I understand that Minecraft as a whole is insanely saturated. There are channels on youtube solely dedicated to just Minecraft every single day. I think that shows the love and passion that so many people have for the game and what can be done with it. With that said, it is a game where no one experience is the same so I would love to give you all mine. And of course as a review I want to ask myself if I enjoy Minecraft? That answer is a resounding yes, I always have no matter what update has dropped but lets find out why I do.

Sandbox the genre as a whole.

Minecraft falls under the genre of sandbox, and for those who do not know what that is, it is when a game gives the player tools to solve a problem and they get to solve it in their own way. Minecraft, I find is a building sandbox, as sandbox does not necessarily need to include building in it; but Minecraft lets the player build literally anything they can imagine in their minds. This is in the context of within and outside the game through modding the game as well. They have a massive mod community, so if the game does not do something the player wants and they have the determination, it is a game that can easily be modded. This is a genre of games that I love dearly, the whole sandbox, building, and survival type of games all blend together magically to me. Hence why I love Minecraft, Terraria, and Starbound so much.

Music.

Minecraft has a masterfully designed soundtrack. The soundtrack is something that I love to listen to when it comes to their ambience music. C418 did an amazing job with the soundtrack. Every song has an elegance, a lightness, a warmth to their soundtrack when in the overworld of the game. They make you feel at peace in the world you are crafting and easily become tied into the memories you make on you own home; and your own creations in the game. Minecraft music stimulates the brain just enough when building to help keep a focus, keep you from feeling bored in the monotony of building something at times, and it goes straight for your heart when you look back fondly on them.

As far as the nether soundtrack goes, I think that is also implemented better than everything else could be. The songs in the nether give you a sense of intense fear and dread. They hit notes that are powerful and make you feel like you no longer want to be there. They instill the feeling that was definitely intended with the nether. Conversely, they hit you hard and don’t like feeling like a background sound at all, these songs command their play time and let the player known of their presence. The nether music is my personal favorite music from the game.

Gameplay.

Minecraft, in literally every single way, encourages one of my favorite gaming philosophies. That philosophy is that the game is meant to be played and enjoyed. They immediately just drop you in a world, and give minor tutorials if you choose to have them. At the time I started playing they did not even offer those, but instead just said “ok you are in this world now go, literally just start playing we won’t tell you anything because we want you to play this in any way that you want”. The gameplay has always been about fostering creativity and curiosity. They encourage you to ask yourself “What does this do? What can I do with this item I just got?” That is one of the best ways I think a game that is simple enough like Minecraft can handle gameplay and tutorials. Just give the player tools and let them play.

The gameplay boils down to what is in the name, you mine up materials and then you use them to craft. Also it has a massive building aspect to the game but there are so many smaller aspects like farming, redstone engineering, etc. The game has a heavy emphasis on exploration as well to grab those materials that you later then use and all of this gameplay flows so smoothly between a few buttons. All a player ever needs is walk, left click, right click, and jump. There are things like crouch with shift and a couple small things that are not neccissary to someone playing the game but help. This simplicity, where the game is easy to play but hard to master, is one of the best game design approaches ever. Sakurai, creator of Kirby and head of the Super Smash Bros Series, has this philosophy and the games that he has touched also follow this philosophy and I find that I love those games dearly as well.

When did I first try minecraft?

I first tried Minecraft my freshman year of high school when my school issues everyone an Ipad for schooling purposes. I then used that Ipad and downloaded Minecraft first and foremost. Then I would take it to my cousins house and we would set up a lan party on their wifi and just play for hours and hours. back then the world was limited and completely flat underground, no caves, no maps, no nether, no armor, no horses. The game was incredibly limited compared to its java variant at the time and yet it still was enough for us to play and build for house nonstop every weekend for about a year. Then I finally got a laptop, a cheap one at 300 dollars, and got Minecraft on it. I could not believe my eyes at all the things that were in the Java version it blew my mind. I started before Microsoft bought up Minecraft and I can’t remember the exact version I started on but if I had to make a guess it would be right around the release of horses. I’ve been playing ever since making sure I catch every update from then on.

Conclusion

Minecraft is a fantastic game, and is the number 1 best selling game of all time for a reason. If I had to rate Minecraft it would easily be a 10/10. The game is a gaming giant understandably, for a reason. With that said, if you enjoyed this content and want to see more please follow me here and on twitter for updates about my blog. I would really appreciate any comments you all have and will respond to every single one if possible. don’t forget to leave a like and I’ll see you next time.